San Jose State study: Black students described campus racism years before hate-crime case

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San Jose State University students gather around the 1968 Olympic statue that celebrates Black Power to protest Thursday afternoon Nov. 21, 2013, the reported racial hazing of an African-American freshman by his dormitory roommates. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Students gather in front of the San Jose State University dorms during a march that coincided with an NAACP press conference at San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif. on Monday, Nov. 25, 2013. Students were seeking a voice in light of the recent racial hate crime that occurred when four white students allegedly abused their African-American roommate while living in the school dorms. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

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San Jose State University students march from student housing to the center of campus Thursday afternoon Nov. 21, 2013 in a protest over reported racial hazing of an African-American freshman by his dormitory roommates. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN JOSE — Two years before this month’s explosive hate-crime charge ignited outrage and intensified scrutiny of race relations at San Jose State, an in-depth study found that black students experienced troubling and sometimes racist behavior from professors, coaches and other students.

But the 100-page report — commissioned by a previous SJSU president and submitted to the new administration in 2011 — was never publicized, and incoming President Mo Qayoumi disbanded the advisory group behind the project to start his own committee on diversity. That group has met only once — this fall — in the months before last week’s revelations that four white students had been charged with tormenting a black roommate in their dorm for weeks.

Some student leaders say they stumbled upon the report this spring — after trying to convey to the school very similar concerns about faculty diversity and stereotypes.

“I was just surprised that pretty much everything we were trying to bring to the university’s attention was already brought to the university’s attention two years ago,” said Gary Daniels, a student and president of the Black Unity Group, “and nothing was done about it.”

The hate-crime case has focused national attention on San Jose State, with black students and community leaders protesting under one of the campus’ enduring symbols of the civil rights movement: the towering Black Power statue of Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos with fists raised high.

Sociology associate professor Susan Bell Murray, who conducted the study for the school’s former Committee on Campus Climate, had hoped the research would improve students’ experiences on campus.

“Basically, I got an email saying, ‘Thanks, we read the report. We don’t want to put it on our website,” she said, echoing concerns of students who have felt ignored by the campus’s top leaders.

The report — now posted on Murray’s faculty Web page — opened a window into the experiences of black students as well as Hispanic, Vietnamese, white and gay students.

Black students interviewed in focus groups reported:

An ever-present expectation that because of their skin color, they were not likely to measure up.

A feeling that others expected them to speak for the whole race, and about racial stereotypes.

A sense of racist treatment; one student said a professor refused to recognize her raised hand and later called on a white student.

Black athletes felt criticized for low-slung pants and hats while similarly attired white teammates in the same group were left alone.

Last week, after news broke of the hate-crime allegations, Murray said she reminded the president and his team of her study, directing them in particular to the section about white students feeling “invisible” in the discussion about campus diversity and race.

Meanwhile, gay students felt that their presence in group discussions at times made their professors uncomfortable.

While the Campus Climate Committee conducted some workshops based on the research, it didn’t have a chance to roll out broader reforms. Qayoumi was not available for an interview on Tuesday, but SJSU spokeswoman Pat Harris said the problems documented in the report were widely known — hardly a secret being swept under the rug.

“Yes, it’s been long documented that San Jose State, despite being one of the most diverse universities in the country, is not immune to the challenges that diversity brings,” she said.

Harris said Qayoumi replaced the committee with a Commission on Diversity that would be “empowered to make change,” as it is led by two vice presidents.

Murray — who spent years studying the issues — applied to serve on the new commission but was not accepted. Harris said she didn’t know why Murray wasn’t selected but that the university was looking for a broader cross-section of people to serve on the new panel.

The disbanded committee had wanted to create programs for white students to participate in a dialogue about how they fit into the diverse campus, its former chairwoman said.

“I think the president just had an idea of going in a different direction,” said Wiggsy Sivertsen, a veteran campus counselor. “We were not happy about it, I wasn’t happy about it — I thought we had more work to do. But I also thought, ‘OK, if you have a better idea, maybe it’ll work.’

“Obviously it hasn’t.”

Last week’s news spurred Sivertsen to reconvene the Campus Climate Committee, with or without the administration’s blessing. She plans to get it started next month.

“I don’t care if people like it or not,” she said, “We’re going to make it work.”

Katy Murphy is based in Sacramento and covers state government for The Mercury News and East Bay Times, a beat she took on in January 2017. Before that, she was the news organization's higher education reporter, writing about UC, CSU, community colleges and private colleges. Long ago, she covered Oakland schools and other K-12 education issues.

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